Betagro-Nosan joint venture boosts niche Thai egg market

The Betagro-Nosan joint venture, formed two years ago aims to improve the Thai egg market by bringing Nosan's expertise in feed and eggs to what Betgaro Group chief operating officer Vasit Taepaisitphongse says will introduce "premium grade products - feed and eggs" - to the upper Thai market.

Thais consume 150-160 eggs a year on average. The amount is quite low when compared with 230 eggs in Malaysia, and more than 300 in Japan and Europe. 10 years ago this volume was 126 eggs a year so progress is slow.

Vasit Taepaisitphongse, chief operating officer of Betagro Group, attributed the slow growth to limited applications of eggs in the food industry. Nosan formed a joint venture with Betagro, aiming to introduce its expertise in feed and eggs to make premium-grade products for the upper market.

The venture brought in Nosan's egg management technologies featuring robotic equipment for grading and packing eggs, detecting cracks and screening out abnormal products such as those with blood spots and without yolks.

The 40-million-baht robotic system ensures eggs are free from contamination by humans, said Torkiat Jinjunthakarn, the quality assurance manager of Betagro Nosan Co. Torkiat said the production plant in Pathum Thani processes about 40,000 eggs daily for the S-Pure brand premium eggs and the lower-grade HyEgg brand. The premium segment still has a tiny share in the 30-billion-baht egg industry, which involves 30,000 farmers who produce 10 billion eggs a year.